A Short Walk Home
by electrified
Summary: The two still walked home together, and when they did, they forgot about high school. They forgot about finals and exams and peer pressure. They were just Massie Block and Cam Fisher. AU. Cassie ? .
1. the short walk home

Since the first grade, they were the best of friends. They lived across the street from each other, isn't that perfect? They were your typical best friend story. Neighbors, same classes every year, and their dads were college friends, too. A friendship rarely found, even in movies. Boy and girl, believe it not.

Naturally, you'd think they'd fall in love.

Wrong.

They entered middle school, and _everything_ changed. While she went off to being the social butterfly of the school, laughing and joking and comforting her way into everyone's hearts, he was left behind. The guy who was labeled a drama geek, had a passion for acting, and had a dorky personality that completely canceled out his boyfriend potential, despite his stunning good looks.

But you see, in the fourth grade, the two started walking home together. He promised his _and_ her dad that he would take care of her at all times. And, to be honest with you, he took that promise way too seriously. The two still walked home together, and when they did, they forgot about high school. They forgot about finals and exams and peer pressure. They were just Massie Block and Cam Fisher.

Best friends who could tell each other anything.

* * *

This story will consist of the walks home the two have together. This is just to give you background information, to give you an idea of what's going to be going on. I don't want my readers to be confused, (:

DISCLAIMER: Disclaimed. Clique isn't mine, homes. Sorry, /:

CHAPTER COMING UP SOON.


	2. don't forget about yourself

Massie Block and Cam Fisher were so in sync that the two nearly always managed to end up at their meeting spot at the same time.

"Hey," Massie greeted her old friend with her signature grin, the one that hid her whitened teeth and instead showed off her quieter side, the shy part of her that everyone loved. It was the reason why she was so popular; they loved her, because she loved them first, simple as that. Oh, she has her flaws. She's giggly, a little too short, and not exactly developed. But what did that matter, when she was so relatable and _pretty? _Even Cam Fisher admired her physique often, and the two were like brother and sister.

Romance? Not a chance, unfortunately.

"Hey," Cam grinned back, shaking his long bangs out of his differently colored eyes. He'd grown to love them, and he hoped they would make him stand out more than your average aspiring actor. That's what he was going to be as soon as he hits 18 in two years, after all. An actor that graced the pages of millions of magazines, the actor that got all the most beautiful girls and won the hearts of females he didn't even know.

The only person who didn't think his dream was unrealistic was Massie, which is probably why he looks forward to talking to her so often.

"How's Harris?" Massie was quick to ask, remembering that Cam had mentioned his little brother was struggling with reading skills a few weeks back. She never forgot the little details, did she? Cam smiled again and adjusted his backpack as he began to start on the long hour walk home with her.

"He's great. Improving, I hope," Cam said wistfully, "I've been helping him every night, and not to sound like a pussy, but I think it's adorable when he looks up from his picture book to grin at me and start jumping up and down because he's so excited."

Massie laughed and nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Whenever Danny looks at me and smiles, I just want to pinch his cheeks. He got those adorable dimples and I," she jabbed her fingers into the fleshy hollows of her cheeks, "got nothing. I hate the world!" She ended dramatically, striking a pose in which she held the back of her hand to her forehead and leaned dangerously far back. Cam laughed as well, thinking silently to himself that she would make a _great_ actress.

She had star potential, after all. More importantly, she had charm. She'd make an amazing actress if she had the ability to act. Now, if only he could bring her to audition for the upcoming play…

"Well, you know," he said wisely, "if dimples are too big, they're like deformities on your face. It can be _majorly gros_s_._ Besides, I like your face."

The two blushed.

"You never complimented me like that before," Massie said curiously.

"Yeah? Well, I should do it more often."

Silence. Comfortable, warm silence. The kind of silence that puts you at ease and makes you smile. Massie walked on, deep in thought. How did she define her relationship with Cam? The two were best friends, and despite her crush on him in the past, she'd gotten over it.

Cam, on the other hand, hadn't let go. He may deny it as much as he wants, but he knows that he's been infatuated with Massie since he saw her. Who can forget the first time they fall for someone? She had taken his hand and ran towards the swings with him being dragged behind. Without introducing themselves, the two started to go higher, higher…

"_Ow!"_

_Cam got off the swing faster than you can say jump and was kneeling beside his new friend in a matter of seconds. "Where does it hurt?" he asked seriously, knowing exactly how to respond to injuries after watching his father and his mother together._

"_Right here," she whimpered, pointing at her clean knees._

"_There's no blood! It'll be okay," he grinned wide at her, dwarfing her by two inches._

"_Are you sure? It hurts a lot," she looked down at the skin curiously, as if she expected it to start bleeding randomly at moment's notice._

_Cam kissed the injury._

"_It'll be alright. A kiss always helps, that's what my mommy said."_

"_Really?! My mommy says that too."_

_He smiled. "I'm Cam!"_

"_I'm Massie. Let's be best friends forever, okay?"_

_He smiled even wider. "Okay."_

"Cam? You're thinking about something."

He shifted his gaze from his shoes to his best friend's eyes quickly. "Hmm? Oh, no big deal. I'm always thinking," he said with a grin, tapping his forehead with one finger. Massie laughed and tapped her own forehead, their secret 'sign' to show that they were best friends forever. It had started when they were in the fourth grade, bored with nothing to do.

Their lives were so intertwined with each other, every nook and cranny of their brains filled with memories of the other. That's what happens when you spend almost your entire life with someone, you know. Especially if that someone is your best friend. Cam's been with Massie through the rough times, watched her grow up from a spunky little kid to a sweet girl every guy wanted to date.

He'd give anything to be her friend in school, too. She tried, she did. But sometimes, you get so caught up in the whirlwind of popularity and you forget about your old friends, your _true_ friends. You only think about the ones that are with you 24/7. You leave those true friends behind.

Their walking home together is the only way Cam has to even talk to her without feeling insecure.

"You're doing it again," Massie whispered, staring at him. The two had stopped walking without realizing it, and their eyes met and didn't waver. Caught in each other's gaze. It should be awkward, but it wasn't.

"Cam," Massie said suddenly, surprising Cam. Her voice seemed so… loud now. Disruptive, even. "We told each other we'd be best friends forever. Not…" she blushed and looked away, "Not a couple."

Oh. His stomach turned itself inside out, and his face visibly dropped, as well as his shoulders. He raised them and attempted to settle his stomach when she lifted her eyes to his. He still towered over her drastically. Four inches, now. He was 5'10 and she was 5'6.

"Yeah. I know."

Massie was silent for a moment. Cam waited, knowing she would say something important next. The two had resumed walking when she finally spoke.

"I hate high school."

Cam smirked. "Tell me about it."

"Alright, I will. Derrick's become an alcoholic, and he's constantly making moves on me. Dylan is a sex addict and a _whore_. Alicia's the backstabber and I just… I just can' trust her. And Claire? Don't get me started on Claire. She's become such a fake now, Cam, you have no idea. I thought she could be a best friend like you. Not as good as you, but maybe close. God, I'm so stupid."

Cam was quiet, so Massie went on.

"And people are just pressuring me to do this, to do that, and I just don't k now what to do. What am I supposed to do, Cam?!" she cried out.

Cam remained silent.

"Sometimes… I think you're the only friend I have," Massie ended quietly.

Still, Cam didn't say a word.

"Aren't you going to say something?" Massie finally begged, her voice pleading and filled to the brim with desperation.

"No. Because you have to figure things out for yourself." Cam refused to mention the fact that even though she thought he was her best friend, she still continued to hang out with these people who were obviously bad influences. He hated it. Was he not good enough for her? Not popular enough?

He didn't know, he didn't want to know, but he _did_ care. Too much.

"You're right… I should be strong enough to say no."

Her voice was shaking. Cam looked at her in sympathy and squeezed her shoulder gently, earning him a grateful smile in return. "I don't know. I'm too much of a people pleasure, I try to make everyone happy and… I don't know."

"That's a good thing. You should try to make everyone happy."

Massie smiled up at him, eager for his approval.

"But don't forget about yourself, too."

Her smile faded. She knew what he was talking about. She looked away. "We're home."

The two embraced quickly and exchanged goodbyes.

Massie entered her home and stared out the window discreetly, watching her best friend and first crush go into his home. Just like she'd done since the two started walking home together. A tradition that hadn't been stopped.

Cam entered his home and graced the window with the feel of one palm pressed against the glassy surface, staring out into the street, his gaze glued to the house that he'd been staring at since first grade. Since he'd first met the girl with bright amber eyes and a sweet disposition he couldn't get enough of.

There they sat. Staring at one another without even knowing it, the darkness of their homes revealing nothing. Nothing at all.


	3. wuthering heights

She watched him walk towards her. Smile on his lips, an excited gleam in his eye. Massie waved at him enthusiastically, and he used the classic chin-up gesture. She smiled and, when the two were finally walking side by side, began to speak. "So, I was thinking about the play. And I decided I should come and see you perform!" She kept her eyes on him, waiting for the reaction she'd been hoping for. He would start clapping and jumping up and down. After all, he'd been bugging her to go, hadn't he?

"That's not what I meant, Massie," He chuckled, shaking his head back and forth. He'd completely forgotten about the previous day's somewhat serious conversation about... about them. Despite what Massie had said that day, she still found herself wondering. The two were so perfect for each other, but they were so... different. He was into acting. She was into painting. They seemed similar, placed under the same category called 'Art,' but they were drastically different. Massie's artwork was not for other people's eyes, they were simply... They were pieces of her heart, little glimpses at her soul.

Acting? She'd never told Cam, but she felt that acting was equivalent to lying. To faking. To backstabbing. But Cam's acting was incredible, she had to admit. He would be famous one day, and she knew it. Part of it was maybe a little irrational faith in her best friend, believing that _her _best friend could do anything. Another part of it was his charm, his good looks. But most of it was his talent, really.

"What did you mean, then?" Massie asked.

"I meant you should try out. We're doing Wuthering Heights."

"Wuthering Heights... Isn't it about the two childhood friends who love each other?"

"Yeah," Cam said quietly," But then she ditches him to marry this guy because he has more social status than her childhood friend does."

The two were silent, for reasons so clear and obvious to them, for reasons that they never spoke about.

"Does this story have a happy ending?" Massie finally asked.

"No. The girl dies and the guy becomes obsessed, talking to her ghost because their love was so passionate and-"

"I thought she left him."

"Yeah, but not because she didn't love him. It was because she wanted to be ranked high up in society. She still loved him, but her longing for that kind of thing trumped their love."

"Oh. So what happens next again?"

"Well, and then he does some pretty fucked up things..."

"It sounds like they're both horrible people."

Cam stared at Massie, and stopped walking. She stopped walking with him. The two were staring at each other again. Their conversations were getting more intense by the day, filled with tension they hadn't dealt with for years. What had she said?

"Actually, you're right. They were horrible people. But their love was the only good quality they had, and that's beautiful. I want to have a love like theirs one day."

Massie smirked, and the two resumed their casual pace. "Except you don't want me to die and you don't want to do some pretty fucked up things, right?"

"... When did this become about me and you?"

His question wasn't unkind, more like... curious. Maybe even hopeful, to Massie's willing ears. She stared up at him in part horror and part regret and part joy. The words had spilled out of her mouth without her knowledge, and now she couldn't take it back. Cam had never been the type to forget something someone told him and pass it off as unimportant when he knew fully well it was extremely significant. He kept on going, a firm believer in truth when his career goal all revolved around lies.

"Umm. I'm sorry?" The silence was awkward now. Suffocating them, pressing on them from all sides. It was hard to breathe. Massie took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Well... I just thought it kind of sounded like... us."

"Yeah. Except you don't love me passionately?" Cam said it as a question, and how was she supposed to answer? Massie wanted to tear her hair out right now. No, she didn't love me passionately. She refused to! It would mean losing all her friends, the friends that she disliked but needed. Needed to feel the breath of exhilaration, the rush that came with laughing over something stupid and silly, an inside joke that only the group shared.

Cam or her friends?

"Uhh. Can we change the subject?" Massie managed to (somehow) mumble through closed lips. He opens his mouth, as if to say something that would change the universe as we know it, but something makes him change his mind. Maybe it was the expression on Massie's face, one of desperation and an uncomfortable unease that made Cam squirm. What made the conversation take such a bitter turn?

Or maybe it was.. bittersweet. Because Massie had to decide, and she had to decide soon. Cam couldn't do this for much longer, knowing everything about Massie but at the same time knowing... absolutely nothing. He wanted her, but he didn't want one part of her. Perhaps it was 'selfish love,' the feelings he felt for this girl. But he wanted her to be happy so badly, he just knew she couldn't be happy leading a double life forever. She needed closure, she needed security, and she should know by now that she would only find it with Cam.

Everything was so clear! Why couldn't she see it? Her eyes, her vision, her _heart _was clouded. It was beyond frustrating.

"Well, are you going to try out or not?" He finally stammered.

Massie looked at him, this time with a smile that reached her eyes and made them shine beautifully.

Cam stared. Captivated. Willingly allowing himself to get trapped into the evil chaos called _love._

"You know what? I think I will."

And with those few sentences taking place of their usual parting words, the two hugged and walked back to their own homes.

Massie entered her home and stared out the window discreetly, watching her best friend and first crush go into his home. Just like she'd done since the two started walking home together. A tradition that hadn't been stopped.

Cam entered his home and graced the window with the feel of one palm pressed against the glassy surface, staring out into the street, his gaze glued to the house that he'd been staring at since first grade. Since he'd first met the girl with bright amber eyes and a sweet disposition he couldn't get enough of.

There they sat. Staring at one another without even knowing it, the darkness of their homes revealing nothing. Nothing at all.

* * *

I know, I KNOW. I repeated the last few sentences from the last chapter. Well, get used to it, because that's going to be repeated over and over again, (:  
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS, ;D Gimme more and make me happy, 3


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